Film transport mechanisms used in photographic film scanners can be configured with DC or AC motors, stepper motors or servo motors used to operate the transport mechanism at different film transport speeds. Film scanners require precise positioning of the film strip, particularly during the image scanning operation for quality results. Drives for this purpose typically include DC motors with position feedback using encoder wheels or disks. Transport speed can be changed by varying the voltage supplied to the DC motor thus making the selection of appropriate operating speed a relatively simple matter. However, the requirement for precise positioning makes the feedback control with encoder wheels a complex and relatively costly approach to transport design. Stepper motor drive systems have the advantage that precise positioning can be readily achieved. However, a film scanner having a high/low speed ratio of, for example, on the order of 40 to 1, requires that a relatively costly stepper motor be used to realize such a high range of speed variation since inexpensive stepper motors are generally limited to a low range of speed variation. For film scanners intended to be mass produced for consumer applications, it is necessary to minimize the product cost which mitigates against use of the more costly stepper motor transport designs.